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Feb 25, 2011

The cigarettes Audrey Silk used to smoke - Parliament Lights - are made at a factory in Richmond, Va. The cigarettes she smokes these days are made and grown in Brooklyn, at her house.

Ms. Silk's backyard is home to raspberry and rose bushes, geraniums, impatiens and 100 tobacco plants in gardening buckets near her wooden deck. Inside her house, around the corner from Flatbush Avenue, in Marine Park, she has to be careful stepping into her basement - one wrong move could ruin her cigarettes. Dozens of tobacco leaves hang there, drying on wires she has strung across the room, where they turn a crisp light brown as they age above a stack of her old Springsteen records.

She talks about cartons and packs in relation to crops and seeds. Planted in 2009, her first crop - 25 plants of Golden Seal Special Burley tobacco - produced nine cartons of cigarettes. Ms. Silk would have spent more than $1,000 had she bought nine cartons in parts of New York City. Instead, she spent $240, mostly for the trays, the buckets and plant food.

From Gawker:A London ice cream parlor called "Icecreamists" has introduced a "pure, organic, free-range and totally natural" new flavor: Breast milk. Well, actually, the flavor is a kind of lemon-vanilla, but the cream is made from breast milk. Human breast milk! More »

(Wait for the the... ehm "human bodily fluid" cream pie as the next hot product)

It’s recently been revealed that the U.S. government contracted HBGary Federal for the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues by promoting propaganda. It could also be used as surveillance to find public opinions with points of view the powers-that-be didn’t like. It could then potentially have their “fake” people run smear campaigns against those “real” people. As disturbing as this is, it’s not really new for U.S. intelligence or private intelligence firms to do the dirty work behind closed doors.

It’s not a big surprise that the U.S. military also wants to use social media to its benefit. Last year, Public Intelligence published the U.S. Air Force social media guide which gave 10 tips for social media such as, “The enemy is engaged in this battlespace and you must engage there as well.” Number three was “DON’T LIE. Credibility is critical, without it, no one cares what you have to say…it’s also punishable by the UCMJ to give a false statement.” The Air Force used the chart below to show how social media influences public opinion.

The bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced at the time into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with.

The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed.

According to Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) the bailout bill originally called for a cap on executive salaries, but Paulson changed the requirement at the last minute. Welch and other members of Congress were enraged by "news that banks getting taxpayer-funded bailouts are still paying exorbitant salaries, bonuses, and other benefits."[1] In addition, as the Associated Press reported in October 2008, "Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. questioned allowing banks that accept bailout bucks to continue paying dividends on their common stock. ‘There are far better uses of taxpayer dollars than continuing dividend payments to shareholders,’ he said."[2]

Even more reprehensible is the fact that after the bailouts, Paulson and the Treasury Department refused to provide details of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, while the New York Federal Reserve refused to provide information about its own bailout (using government-backed loans) that amounted to trillions. This lack of transparency was challenged by Fox TV in a FOIA suit against the Treasury Department, and a suit by Bloomberg News against the Fed.[3]

The financial bailout legislation of September 2008 was only passed after members of both Congressional houses were warned that failure to act would threaten civil unrest and the imposition of martial law.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., both said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he pushed for the Wall Street bailout in September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.[4]

Here are the original remarks by Senator Inhofe:

Speaking on Tulsa Oklahoma’s 1170 KFAQ, when asked who was behind threats of martial law and civil unrest if the bailout bill failed, Senator James Inhofe named Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as the source. "Somebody in D.C. was feeding you guys quite a story prior to the bailout, a story that if we didn’t do this we were going to see something on the scale of the depression, there were people talking about martial law being instituted, civil unrest... who was feeding you guys this stuff?," asked host Pat Campbell. "That’s Henry Paulson," responded Inhofe. "We had a conference call early on, it was on a Friday I think – a week and half before the vote on Oct. 1. So it would have been the middle... what was it – the 19th of September, we had a conference call. In this conference call – and I guess there’s no reason for me not to repeat what he said, but he said – he painted this picture you just described. He said, ‘This is serious. This is the most serious thing that we faced.’"[5]

The only way they can pass this bill is by creating a panic atmosphere... Many of us were told that the sky would fall... A few of us were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no. That’s what I call fear-mongering, unjustified, proven wrong.[6]

So it is clear that threats of martial law were used to get this reprehensible bailout legislation passed. It also seems clear that Congress was told of a threat of martial law, not itself threatened. It is still entirely appropriate to link such talk to the Army’s rapid moves at the time to redefine its role as one of controlling the American people, not just protecting them. In a constitutional polity based on balance of powers, we have seen the emergence of a radical new military power that is as yet completely unbalanced.

Continuity of Operations (COOP)

The Army’s New Role in 2001: Not Protecting American Society, but Controlling It. This new role for the Army is not wholly unprecedented. The U.S. military had been training troops and police in "civil disturbance planning" for the last three decades. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, or "Operation Garden Plot," was developed in 1968 in response to the major protests and disturbances of the 1960s.

But on January 19, 2001, on the last day of the Clinton administration, the U.S. Army promulgated a new and permanent Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program. It encapsulated its difference from the preceding, externally oriented Army Survival, Recovery, and Reconstitution System (ASRRS) as follows:

a. In 1985, the Chief of Staff of the Army established the Army Survival, Recovery, and Reconstitution System (ASRRS) to ensure the continuity of essential Army missions and functions.

ASRRS doctrine was focused primarily on a response to the worst case 1980’s threat of a massive nuclear laydown on CONUS as a result of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.

b. The end of the Cold War and the breakup of the former Soviet Union significantly reduced the probability of a major nuclear attack on CONUS but the probability of other threats has increased. Army organizations must be prepared for any contingency with a potential for interruption of normal operations.

To emphasize that Army continuity of operations planning is now focused on the full all-hazards threat spectrum, the name "ASRRS" has been replaced by the more generic title "Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program.[7]

This document embodied the secret Continuity of Government (COG) planning conducted secretly by Rumsfeld, Cheney and others through the 1980s and 1990s.[8] This planning was initially for continuity measures in the event of a nuclear attack, but soon called for suspension of the Constitution, not just "after a nuclear war" but for any "national security emergency". This was defined in Reagan’s Executive Order 12656 of November 18, 1988, as "any occurrence, including natural disaster, military attack, technological emergency, or other emergency, that seriously degrades or seriously threatens the national security of the United States." The effect was to impose on domestic civil society the extreme measures once planned for a response to a nuclear attack from abroad.[9] In like fashion, ARR 500-3 Regulation clarified that it was a plan for "the execution of mission-essential functions without unacceptable interruption during a national security or domestic emergency."

Donald Rumsfeld, who as a private citizen had helped author the COG planning, promptly signed and implemented the revised ARR 500-3. Eight months later, on 9/11, Cheney and Rumsfeld implemented COG, a significant event of which we still know next to nothing.[10] What we do know is that plans began almost immediately – as foreseen by COG planning the 1980s – to implement warrantless surveillance and detention of large numbers of civilians, and that in January 2002 the Pentagon submitted a proposal for deploying troops on American streets.[11]

Then in April 2002, Defense officials implemented a plan for domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern Command (CINC-USNORTHCOM) for the continental United States.[12] In short, what were being implemented were the most prominent features of the COG planning which Oliver North had worked on in the 1980s.

"Deep Events" and Changes of Party in the White House

Like so many other significant steps since World War Two towards a military-industrial state, the Army’s Regulation 500-3 surfaced in the last days of a departing administration (in this case the very last day). It is worth noticing that, ever since the 1950s, dubious events – of the unpublic variety I have called deep events – have marked the last months before a change of party in the White House. These deep events have tended to a) constrain the incoming president, if he is a Democrat or, alternatively, b) to pave the way for the incomer, if he is a Republican.

Consider, in the first category, the following (when a Republican was succeeded by a Democrat):

– In December 1960 the CIA secured approval for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, and escalated events in Laos into a crisis for which the Joint Chiefs proposed sending 60 000 troops. These events profoundly affected President Kennedy’s posture towards Cuba and Indochina.

– In 1976 CIA Director George H.W. Bush installed an outside Team B intelligence unit to enlarge drastically estimates of the Soviet threat to the United States, eventually frustrating and reversing presidential candidate Jimmy Carter’s campaign pledge to cut the U.S. defense budget.[13]

Equally important were events in the second category (when a Democrat was succeeded by a Republican):

- In late 1968 Kissinger, while advising the Johnson administration, gave secret information to the Nixon campaign that helped Nixon to obstruct the peace agreement in Vietnam that was about to be negotiated at the peace talks then taking place in Paris. (According to Seymour Hersh, "The Nixon campaign, alerted by Kissinger to the impending success of the peace talks, was able to get a series of messages to the Thieu government" in Saigon, making it clear that a Nixon presidency would offer a better deal. This was a major factor in securing the defeat of Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.[14] Kissinger was not the kind of person to have betrayed his president on his own personal initiative. At the time Nixon’s campaign manager, John Mitchell (one of the very few in on the secret), told Hersh, "I thought Henry [Kissinger] was doing it because Nelson [Rockefeller] wanted him to. Nelson asked Henry to help and he did."[15]

- In 1980 the so-called October Surprise, with the help of people inside the CIA, helped ensure that the Americans held hostage in Iran would not be returned before the inauguration of Reagan. This was a major factor in securing the defeat of incumbent Jimmy Carter.[16] Once again, the influence of the Rockefellers can be discerned. A CIA officer later reported hearing Joseph V. Reed, an aide to David Rockefeller, comment in 1981 to William Casey, the newly installed CIA Director, about their joint success in disrupting Carter’s plans to bring home the hostages.[17]

Both the financial bailout, extorted from Congress and the escalated preparations for martial law can be seen as transitional events of the first category. Whatever the explanations for their timing, they constrained Obama’s freedom to make his own policies. Moreover they have the consequence of easing this country into unforeseen escalations of the Afghan war.

The Intensive Quiet Preparations for Martial Law

Let us deal first with the preparations for martial law. In late September 2008, at the height of the financial meltdown, The Army Times announced the redeployment of an active Brigade Army Team from Iraq to America, in a new mission that "may become a permanent part of the active Army":

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission – with a twist – at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks… After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one... They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.[18]

This announcement followed by two weeks the talk of civil unrest and martial law that was used to panic the Congress into passing Paulson’s bailout legislation. Not only that, the two unprecedented events mirror each other: the bailout debate anticipated civil unrest and martial law, while the announced positioning of an active Brigade Combat Team on U.S. soil anticipated civil unrest (such as might result from the bailout legislation).

Then on December 17, 2008, U.S. Northern Command chief General Renuart announced that "the US military plans to mobilize thousands of troops to protect Washington against potential terrorist attack during the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama."[19]

The U.S. Army War College also raised the possibility of the U.S. Army being used to control civil unrest, according to the Phoenix Business Journal:

A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.

"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security," said the War College report.

The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.[20]

It is clear that there has been a sustained move in the direction of martial law preparations, a trend that has been as continuous as it has been unheralded. Senator Leahy was thus right to draw our attention to it on September 29, 2006, in his objections to the final form of the Fiscal Year 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, which gave the president increased power to call up the National Guard for law enforcement:

It... should concern us all that the Conference agreement includes language that subverts solid, longstanding Posse Comitatus statutes that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law. There is good reason for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations.[21]

This quiet agglomeration of military power has not "just growed", like Topsy, through inadvertence. It shows sustained intention, even if no one has made a public case for it.

Pakistani and Indian newspapers are reporting that Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor in jail in Lahore facing murder charges for the execution-slayings of two young men believed to by Pakistani intelligence operatives, was actually involved in organizing terrorist activities in Pakistan.As the Express Tribune, an English-language daily that is linked to the International Herald Tribune, reported on Feb. 22:

“The Lahore killings were a blessing in disguise for our security agencies who suspected that Davis was masterminding terrorist activities in Lahore and other parts of Punjab,” a senior official in the Punjab Police claimed.“His close ties with the TTP [the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan] were revealed during the investigations,” he added. “Davis was instrumental in recruiting young people from Punjab for the Taliban to fuel the bloody insurgency.” Call records of the cellphones recovered from Davis have established his links with 33 Pakistanis, including 27 militants from the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi sectarian outfit, sources said.

The article goes on to explain a motive for why the US, which on the one hand has been openly pressing Pakistan to move militarily against Taliban forces in the border regions abutting Afghanistan, would have a contract agent actively encouraging terrorist acts within Pakistan, saying:

Davis was also said to be working on a plan to give credence to the American notion that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not safe. For this purpose, he was setting up a group of the Taliban which would do his bidding.

According to a report in the Economic Times of India, a review by police investigators of calls placed by Davis on some of the cell phones found on his person and in his rented Honda Civic after the shooting showed calls to 33 Pakistanis, including 27 militants from the banned Pakistani Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an group identified as terrorist organization by both the US and Pakistan, which has been blamed for the assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and to the brutal slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.Meanwhile, while the US continues to claim that Davis was “defending himself” against two armed robbers, the Associated Press is reporting that its sources in Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), are telling them that Davis “knew both men he killed.”The AP report, which was run in Thursday’s Washington Post, claims the ISI says it “had no idea who Davis was or what he was doing when he was arrested,” that he had contacts in Pakistan’s tribal regions, and that his visa applications contained “bogus references and phone numbers.”The article quotes a “senior Pakistani intelligence official” as saying the ISI “fears there are hundreds of CIA contractors presently operating in Pakistan without the knowledge of the Pakistan government or the intelligence agency.”In an indication that Pakistan is hardening its stance against caving to US pressure to spring Davis from jail, theExpress Tribune quotes sources in the Pakistani Foreign Office as saying that the US has been pressing them to forge backdated documents that would allow the US to claim that Davis worked for the US Embassy. President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top US officials have been trying to claim Davis was an Embassy employee, and not, as they originally stated, and as he himself told arresting police officers, just a contractor working out of the Lahore Consulate. The difference is critical, since most Embassy employees get blanket immunity for their activities, while consular employees, under the Vienna Conventions, are only given immunity for things done during and in the course of their official duties.The US had submitted a list of its Embassy workers to the Foreign Office on Jan. 20, a week before the shooting. That list had 48 names on it, and Davis was not one of them. A day after the shooting, the Embassy submitted a “revised” list, claiming rather improbably that it had “overlooked” Davis. At the time of his arrest, Davis was carrying a regular passport, not a diplomatic one, though the Consulate in Lahore rushed over the following day and tried to get police to let them swap his well-worn regular passport for a shiny new diplomatic one (they were rebuffed). Davis was also carrying a Department of Defense contractor ID when he was arrested, further complicating the picture of who his real employer might be.

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators.

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as "information operations" at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.'

Okay, I know. Egypt is like, so five minutes ago. Right now, everyone is doing Wisconsin and Libya and Charlie Sheen and the Oscars. But let's head back to the land of the pharaohs to revisit a question that we've looked at before: Did American covert operators instigate or direct the uprising?

This Asian Tribune article, previously unknown to me (although a Politico commenter mentioned it), indicates that the answer is yes. The information comes from a Wikileaked 2008 cable. Yep, the plan goes back to that year. To the Dubya administration.

The United States has been covertly preparing a regime change in Egypt for the last two years secretly assisting the leaders who were preparing a blueprint to bring representative government to Egypt now emerged as leaders or organizers of the mass uprising that the world is witnessing today.

That's not the most elegantly worded sentence in the world, but you get the idea. The cable discusses a "young Egyptian activist" who was recruited by U.S. intelligence back in 2008.

This young Egyptian activist was arrested and detained in this week’s uprising in Cairo, it has been revealed.

The name of this young Egyptian leader is withheld for obvious reasons.

Aw, c'mon. Let's not be so coy. Looks to me like we're talking about Wael Ghonim, whom we have discussed before.

So what does this cable tell us? Actually, not much that we did not already know.

Washington figured out that Mub could not last, and that his son was too unpopular to take power. Understanding that change was inevitable, they decided to exert some measure of control over the transition. Ghonim was recruited for the gig. (I kinda figured that out already.) If he weren't so young, the CIA probably would have made him the new Egyptian president, just as they did with Sadat and Mub.

The new stuff comes to this: Plans were laid as early as 2008, which means that Obama was not involved. Was Obama ever made aware of this scheme? Now that's an interesting question. He certainly wore his best deer-in-the-headlights expression for much of the uprising.

Also, if the Dubya forces put this scheme in place, why did the Republican leadership (Huckabee, for example) make asses of themselves with their pro-Mub statements?

Turns out lots of people on the ground in Egypt knew all about these plans -- more than two years ago!

xxxxxxxxxxxx claimed that several opposition forces -- including the Wafd, Nasserite, Karama and Tagammu parties, and the Muslim Brotherhood, Kifaya, and Revolutionary Socialist movements -- have agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections (ref C). According to xxxxxxxxxxxx, the opposition is interested in receiving support from the army and the police for a transitional government prior to the 2011 elections. xxxxxxxxxxxx asserted that this plan is so sensitive it cannot be written down.

The xxxxxx string refers to the "activist" working with the U.S. government -- and, as noted above, I'm sure that this refers to Ghonim.

Let's take this a step farther. If the US was (at least in part) behind the Egypt uprising, what about the Tunisian rebellion which inspired the Egyptians? And what about Libya?

One last thing. Here's a line from the cable that caught my attention:

He [Mr. X, whom I have pegged as Ghonim] indicated to us that he has not been focusing on his work as a \"fixer\" for journalists, due to his preoccupation with his U.S. trip.

Yeeaaahhhh. About that "fixer" business. Tell me more.

Just how many "fixers" are there out there? Just how often do journalists get info about foreign affairs from "fixers" who are actually U.S. intelligence assets?

According to the reports, Saif al-Arab, Gaddafi's youngest son, who was sent by his father to cooperate with Libyan security forces in the massive crackdown on pro-democracy protesters joined forces with the demonstrators in the eastern city of Benghazi on Thursday.

Saif al-Arab, who is widely regarded as the most low-profile of Gaddafi's sons have also hinted that his father would commit suicide or flee to Latin America in the face of rising public outcry over his tyrannical rule.

Saif al-Arab is said to have had the backing of combat troops and had military equipment that was dispatched to the eastern parts of turmoil-hit Libya.'Read more...

Of all the struggles going on in North Africa and the Middle East right now, the most difficult to unravel is the one in Libya. After Egypt, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya focuses on the maelstrom unfurling next door and mulls over its ominous future. Is “manufactured destruction” or creative destruction at work? Is oil-rich Libya being set up for a civil war to pave the way for a U.S. and NATO armed intervention? Qaddafi is an independent Arab dictator and one should be opposed to dictatorship, but should not forget about foreign tutelage.

Yes, you.And Trichet, and the rest of the Central Bank fools.But especially you, Bernanke.There's dumb and then there's really dumb. Let's take a short walk back down history lane.You were sure there was no housing bubble.Then you were sure it wouldn't pop.Then you were sure when the subprime problem hit, that it wouldn't cause a recession.Then you were sure you had it under control with Bear Stearns' hedge funds.Then you were sure you had it under control with Bear Stearns itself.Then you were sure it was under control with Lehman, even though you had to know Citibank and others were refusing their collateral in the repo market.You were sure QE would support higher bond prices - and lower yields. The exact opposite thing happened.You were sure QE2 would suppress long end yields. The exact opposite thing happened. Oh yeah, you made excuses both times, but in fact you publicly said that in both cases the exact opposite thing would happen that did.Now let's look at what happened just today.Oil went up almost $7 today for the WTI contract. For each dollar that crude oil rises, we transfer roughly $95 billion (estimates vary from $90-100) outside of the United States.That's a direct hit to GDP.In ONE DAY the entire impact of your so-called "QE2" was ERASED.(As an aside, yes, I can do the math on the direct import numbers; the argument here is on the total economic impact, which is as noted above. Estimates there vary somewhat, but they're centered around $90-100 billion/year/dollar increase.)Your entire gambit and what you sold to Congress and President Obama was that you could "restart" credit expansion with your policies. Implicit in your policy was a need to do so, because without it you cannot succeed. The World Economic Forum at Davos released a paper saying that we needed, collectively, to add one hundred trillion dollars of new debt to the system to support the paltry growth numbers you and your economists are putting up. Worse, the CBO stuck up numbers in the TBAC report that show another doubling of Federal Debt in the next nine years and a rough quadrupling of debt service costs to $800 billion, implying a paltry 3% blended rate.We had the collapse starting in 2007 because people couldn't afford the debt they already had and yet your entire scheme, to succeed, requires doubling all systemic debt AGAIN.So how are you going to do it Ben? Who's going to take on that debt, and how are they going to service it?You know damn well it can't work, and won't. You also know damn well you've goaded and prodded the Federal Government into taking on $4.5 trillion in debt we cannot afford, or nearly 30% of GDP.How are you going to take that back off Bernanke? You keep being asked this, but all you say is that you're confident "you have the tools." Uh huh. You don't have jack and you know damn well you can't pull your pump-job back one iota without laying bare on the table the fact that the Federal Government is supporting 12% of GDP with borrowed money. If it disappears we have an instant Depression worse than the 1930s. The bad news is that if you keep this crap up it will disappear by force of the market, there's not a damn thing you can do to prevent it, and that day is rapidly approaching.EVERY prediction you've made about the economy over the last five years has been wrong. All of them. The market is rising only because you're "promising" infinite leverage. But infinite leverage means certain financial ruin if you're wrong about external forces. And the economy is not a closed system under your control. You cannot control other nations, you cannot control commodity speculators and you cannot control other central banks and politicians. You think you can force China off their peg, but they can suppress riots longer than we can. You think you can keep printing but now Egypt has gone down, Libya is collapsing and if Saudi Arabia folds you're instantly ****ED and so are the rest of us.Never mind that it's not just the Middle East. What if Venezuela folds? Mexico goes feral with their drug war? How about South Korea, which now has how many banks closed due to runs?The longer you keep this crap up the worse the instability will become. Eventually something will break that's important, and then it's too late.You can't win this game Bernanke. And the longer you keep trying to protect the banks that should have been shut down and taken into receivership in 2007 the more damage you're going to do. When the history books are written on this catastrophe your name is going to be featured in bright lights as the personal architect and chief jackass who pontificated that he knew it all because he studied The Great Depression.Yeah, you studied it all right. And now you're duplicating the mistakes made then, writ even larger.There are no statesmen left in this nation when it comes to Congress. Not one who will haul your ass in front of them by force of subpoena, put your clear and public record of "accuracy" in front of you and then demand that you justify your twisting of the clear English language to come up with "2% inflation" as your "interpretation" of STABLE PRICES.You're going to fail Bernanke. You're failing right now. You've destroyed one nation's government and this evening, as I write this, a second is falling apart. The madman behind the second, Qaddafi, has apparently ordered his military to strafe civilians, murdering hundreds.But behind it all, your policies and those of your cronies, believing in an indefinite Ponzi Scheme of exponential debt without bound, are responsible for every bit of what's happening today worldwide - and what is to come tomorrow.The only way you can stop it is to admit you were wrong, pull liquidity and allow the insolvent institutions to collapse. And collapse they will - all of them. I'm convinced you know that too. And I'm also convinced that there's three words you will never utter so long as you infest Washington DC: I ****ed up.So here we sit as Americans, with no solution. There is nobody in Congress or The Administration that has the balls to stop you, and you're too much of a douche to admit you blew it and do what should have been done three years ago. As a result, all we have left is to be prepared for what's to come.It's not going to be pretty, and I hope Americans are ready for it.Congratulations Ben Bernnake. Your place in history is secure, and I'm sure Beelzebub thanks you daily for your cooperation. Some day I'm quite sure you'll meet him face-to-face.###

Something big is going on in international finance as this Goldsmiths will explain. In the way of a backdrop, it must be said that several non-Rothschild controlled nations--like China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela--started a cry for a new monetary system back in 2008 and early 2009. It seems that they did not like one of the weakest currencies in the world, the US dollar, being used by the Rothschild-US team to buy goods and influence international politics worldwide just because the dollar was the so-called international reserve currency.

But non-Rothschild nations and people don’t carry much weight in international financial affairs since international money in the Christian West is totally in the hands of the Rothschild Cabal master snakes and their worldwide power cliques of racial cousins and insiders. Consequently, the initial cries for a new approach on money matters received little or no coverage or consideration from the Rothschild media or the Rothschild Cabal financial market powers in the Christian West. But the non-Rothschild controlled nations continued their quest for something different.

Thereupon, since some of these non Rothschild owned nations felt that the Rothschild controlled Western Christian capitalist system was by-passing their needs, they began abandoning the US dollar and the Rothschild money system to conduct bi-lateral trade using their own currencies. Now internally, the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are generally conducting trade bi-laterally without US-Rothschild dollars and without the Rothschild Cabal banking system oversight which has historically handled the international trade transactions to allow the Rothschild Cabal vipers to take a cut on the money flow.

Even recently, in Jan 2011, Russia started selling oil to China using their national currencies. This development arose when a Russian oil pipeline was completed into China. This oil pipeline event not only marked a turn away from Rothschild money but also it cut out Rothschild commissions on moving Middle Eastern oil in Rothschild Cabal tankers to China. The Rothschild Cabal masters own most or all of the oil tanker transport business. Thus, they have monopolized the movement of Middle Eastern oil into many nations in the world. Yet, Russia and China effectively said “no more” sharing of oil money with the Rothschild Cabal of master snakes.

The latest in Jan 2011 was that India agreed to use gold to buy gas from Iran (thus, by passing the Rothschild-US money system). What this amounts to is that some or many of the non Rothschild controlled nations are in the process of dumping Rothschild control over international finance and trade. They are moving toward use of their own currencies in bi-lateral trade. Surely, this process must be threatening to the Rothschild Cabal profits and control of the international financial markets and system. Of course, such a turn of events would prompt a Rothschild response.

Well, back in 2000, Saddam Hussein and Iraq decided to abandon the Rothschild-US money system and sell oil in gold and other currencies. This prompted an immediate Rothschild reaction by ordering the Rothschild puppet, George Bush, to attack and invade Iraq (resulting in the murder of Saddam for daring to cross the Rothschild masters). Iran followed suit by choosing to cut the Rothschild Cabal masters out of profits on Iranian oil and gas. So the Rothschild-US team is preparing for war on Iran. In the meantime, the cries from BRIC for a new reserve currency are gaining momentum. Thus, the Rothschild Cabal master serpents have to deal with these cries as soon as possible or they could lose control.

Though normally, the Rothschild Cabal merely calls upon its controlled US puppets to attack and invade nations opposing the Cabal, this option for some reason was not on the table with the recent revolts of China, Russia and Venezuela. Possibly, the Cabal masters are not quite ready for WWIII yet; so they chose to by-pass the military option for now—though in time they will use it to the determent of the US. Of course, they care nothing about the US and the American people as long they make their profits and extend their control over the world.

While persons following the Rothschild Cabal of master snakes may not have to get excited or be impressed with all of the public pronouncements of non Rothschild controlled nations or even of all of the talk from racial cousins of the Rothschilds, some words on occasion must be taken seriously. And in the past several weeks, there have been some public pronouncements from the key Rothschild relatives who have enormous clout, power and influence over the Western Christian dummies to implement Rothschild Cabal plans directly as dictated from the City (in London).

The Cabal Changes CourseIn this vein, we are now hearing public statements from some of the Cabal’s highest players and relatives on the coming of a new monetary system which may entail a repeat of the July 1944 Bretton Woods Conference (as I discussed and predicted in the Goldsmiths CLIII of Aug 5, 2010). Perhaps here, in recent weeks, the Rothschild bosses don’t like the trend on-going whereby non Rothschild nations have been acting independently of the Cabal serpents. Perhaps there is some growing fear in the Rothschild counting houses that these views espousing independence from the Rothschilds could take root and cause them a loss of profits or control down the road. Regardless of what, the Cabal snakes are now reassessing their position of historically giving the non controlled nations the finger and doing as they please. A new wind is blowing.

The first major clue that something big was afoot came by Sep 9, 2009 when key Rothschild cousin and agent Mervyn King of the Rothschild controlled Bank of England began making speeches and public comments that the world needs a new monetary system to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. King has subsequently followed up on numerous occasions calling for a new system and a new world reserve monetary unit.

Then on Sep 28, 2009, Rothschild relative and key insider Robert Zoellick at the World Bank came out with a similar proposal. This one came in a story by Glenn Somerville from Reuters which quoted Rothschild cousin Zoellick as saying that the US should not take the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency for granted because other options are now emerging. Here, we have one of the Cabal’s chief agents taking a public stand that the US dollar may be on the way out as the world’s chief reserve currency. And this story came from Rothschild’s primary media source—Reuters.

On Feb 26, 2010, Rothschild relative and Rothschild’s power leader and boss of the Rothschild created and Rothschild controlled International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strass-Kahn, followed up with a proposal for a new international reserve currency (per Rothschild run ABC News).

The next big bombshell came from another key Rothschild cousin and primary agent of power and influence over the dumb sheep--Jean-Claude Trichet--in charge of the ECB, the EU’s Central Bank. Though Trichet was not a big leader in 2009-2010 on a new reserve currency, he did in statements in Jan 2011 open the door that a new international reserve currency might now be needed.

On Feb 11, 2011, the Rothschild run IMF and its Rothschild cousin and Rothschild boss Strass-Kahn came out again with more talk on a new reserve currency and opened the door that the Special Drawing Rights used in the IMF could be used for such a new reserve currency (per Rothschild controlled CNN News).

Next, another big development hit the dumb sheep in the face on Feb 13, 2011 when the Rothschild created and controlled UN followed suit with more talk along the same line. The London Telegraph had this in a story by Edmund Conway on UN wants new global currency to replace dollar. Conway cited pleas from China, Russia and others and said “The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.” This story added that a new Bretton Woods-style system of managed international exchange rates from a world central bank would intervene and either support or push down different currencies depending on how the world economy is behaving.

On Feb 14, 2011, another cry for a new world monetary system and new reserve currency came from Rothschild controlled France. This cry was led by Rothschild cousin and key insider Sarkozy, president of France.

The essence here is that key players on the Rothschild Cabal’s international round table are now coming out and publicly expressing the “need” for a new Bretton Woods agreement with currency values pegged to a new international reserve currency (the earlier Bretton Woods generally had fixed exchange rates pegged to the US dollar which was then backed by gold).

The Goldsmiths 153 (as published on Aug 5, 2010) discussed the Bretton Wood’s agreement in some detail and recognized the cries from many for something new. In that Goldsmiths, I predicted that ultimately a new Bretton Wood type agreement would probably entail an international meeting and a new agreement. This Goldsmiths will continue that discussion and offer some possibilities on what might develop.

What Seems to be Under WayAs a preliminary, let us take a look at the current make up of the US dollar index (per ezinearticvles.com):Euro 57.6%Yen 13.6%BP 11.9%Canadian 9.1%Swedish Krona 4.2%Swiss Franc 3.6%s

Next, here is something on the value of the IMF’s Special Drawing Right (as of Jan 1, 2011, per a CNN News report and LatinDailyFinancialNews.com):

US Dollar 41.9%Euro 37.4%Japanese Yen 9.4%British Pound 11.3%

Per the latest round of talk from racial cousins and insiders of the Cabal, it appears that the Cabal is thinking about using the IMF SDRs as the new reserve currency. Since the BRIC nations particularly are demanding a basket of currencies, to include the BRIC currencies, there is some likelihood that the SDRs will be revamped in valuation to reflect at least China and maybe even Russia, India and Brazil. Russian president Medvedev wants the currencies of Brazil, India, China and Russia all added to the SDR mix, so it could happen.

In Jan 2011, Obama came out with a statement that the Chinese yuan should be added in (per Rothschild controlled CNN News of Feb11, 2011). Too, we can’t rule out the possibility of gold having some role to play in the SDRs—at least in backing of the SDRs and perhaps in valuation.

Thus, the SDR may be the new reserve currency, but with its valuation subject to a basket of currencies and perhaps even gold in some capacity. In the implementation of the move to SDRs, it is conceivable that the nations making up the basket may be obligated to transfer some their gold holdings to the IMF under some arrangement to support at least partially the eventual SDR unit. Internationally, the dollar can be generally phased out; though there might be some provision for the dollar and other currencies to be used in limited bi-lateral trade among participating nations (this would allow bi-lateral agreements within BRIC to continue since these are in place).

In the case of the dollar, I can see that a new agreement might allow IMF participating nations around the world holding dollars to transfer them to the IMF in exchange for SDRs (such an event would effectively rescue the falling dollar in the world markets in that nations could redeem them by transferring them to the IMF in exchange for SDR credits). It is even conceivable that the same transfer provision may apply to other currencies in the basket (in that they could be transferred to the IMF in exchange for SDRs). In fact, this might be a continuing proposition that nations acquiring currencies in bi-lateral trade in the future can transfer these currencies to the IMF in exchange for SDRs.

Therefore, there will be a continuing convertible feature for at least the currencies in the basket to SDRs. There will likely be a similar provision for other non-basket currencies which might initially start with a peg but later devolve to a flexible, changing profile depending on evolving economic conditions in those nations (and how well they toe the line to the wishes of the Rothschild Cabal master snakes that will be in charge and running the whole show). The IMF will hold these acquired currencies in its reserves.

I can even envision for a time coming that the IMF (which might transition into being the world’s central bank) will provide local currencies for use by the peoples on the street in different countries. In other words, this central bank could become the classic money changing operation for the whole world. Thus, a revamped IMF may become the central bank of the world. This may not happen all at once but it might involve a phased-in approach over time (and precede an eventual one world currency).

As far as the national currencies used by individual nations and the people on the street, the status quo will continue for the time being until eventually a single new currency does evolve for use by all people (this could come following WWIII, at least for much of the world). I can see for the time being where even the present so-called national central banks will continue in place and continue dispensing the actual paper currencies to be used by the people on the street in each nation. Since the Rothschild Cabal already controls most central banks and currencies in use by the people on the street, this control will continue but with the modification that it will be supplemented by the international SDRs and a coming world central bank (probably at the Rothschild controlled IMF).

As far as the US and likely the rest of North America, and possibly even much or all of South America, there is much Rothschild thought being given to a new currency to be used by the people on the streets. Something like the Amero could easily evolve and be a dominant currency in the basket to support the SDRs. This could happen even before the likely coming of Bretton Woods II/III.

Another Long Range Goal of the Master Snakes

Just like the old socialist USSR state had specialized zones of production of parts of something which when combined would make a whole product, like a car, so also the coming world commercial organization will attempt to have various nations specialize in certain items which can be combined from several different nations to make a whole product. Thus, mechanical car parts can be made by different nations around the world and then shipped to another nation which will assemble the separate parts into a whole car. This is a long range plan of the Rothschild masters and will not become reality all at once. But it will likely be discussed and slowly start to be implemented in the coming days. The move to use of the SDRs could encourage or demand this specialization in production.

In addition to specialization in parts that can be assembled into whole items, there will be other geographical specialization in production in general. Hence, we could see the US with food (with US control of food, it will insure Rothschild control of the world) and armaments for war, China--computers and small items, Japan--technology and car parts, EU--heavy equipment, Sweden--ball bearings, South America--food later if they join the Rothschild team, Africa--natural resources, Middle East--oil, Russia--oil and gas later if they join the Rothschild team, Australia--natural resources, etc.

When and How

As a minimum, a new Bretton Wood’s conference will surely occur in time (as predicted back on Aug 5, 2010 in the Goldsmiths 153). The when on this is easy because it could come anytime and not require any particular preparation. But my take is probably a monetary crisis will occur to spur the thing on. I have long anticipated a big fall in the US dollar when the US-Rothschild attack on Iran takes place. This could be next on the Cabal agenda. Most economists and analysts are now getting on the band wagon for big falls in the dollar. Well, this may happen short term; but the Cabal can work miracles in the money markets in time for Bretton Woods II or III when it does take place down the road.

Hence, I expect the US dollar to fall over Iran or something else near term but later (perhaps as the Amero or North American currency) to come into any Bretton Woods II or III (however defined) smelling like a rose with some unjustified, redeeming strength. This is what happened with the Rothschild owned British Pound at Bretton Woods I, which came to the conference with a peg of over $4.00 to the US dollar. I suggest that the Cabal masters will make sure that their primary currency, the US dollar (or its North American successor), comes in as strong as possible (unless the dollar has totally collapsed into the trash can by the time of the next Bretton Woods conference).

So while a big fall in the dollar from a stupid attack on Iran, a natural disaster or something else would make the dollar look bad, the solution may then turn out to be a new North American currency on the order of the Amero. The Canadian dollar is quite strong on its own merit and even the Mexican peso is looking fair at present. I had a recent news report at www.analysis-news.com that Mexican merchants are refusing the dollar and asking for the peso in trade. A currency like the Amero could make the US dollar look good (so, if need be, a new regional currency like the Amero could evolve before Bretton Woods II or III). Too, since the Cabal masters control the dollar index, they can make it say whatever they want it to say.

The Bottom Line

The above scenario may not evolve precisely as I have outlined. But there is a good possibility that much of the above will eventually take place. And it could happen either later this year or early next year. As a minimum, all the talk from the Rothschild Cabal relatives and close insiders has to be taken seriously. For sure, the dollar is going down the tubes at some point in time. The big question is when and what stops will be pulled out to try to save it at least partially. The above scenario opens the door on a couple of options the Cabal master serpents may try to use to save their favorite currency for profits and world rule—the US dollar.

The biggest problem the Cabal snakes face is that the dollar may hit the garbage can of worthlessness before they have time to implement their plans to save it (this could easily happen in the coming US attack on Iran, internal US revolution, natural disaster or during some other major loss of Cabal control over events). Of course, the snakes could and would quickly abandon the dollar and let it go down the tubes if necessary. In that instance, the EURO or the coming SDRs may quickly arrive on stage as the Cabal’s favorite money to cheat and defraud the nations around the world.

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